Rivet attachment assembly for securing adapter card

Details Rivet attachment assembly for securing adapter card Rivet attachment assembly for securing adapter card

2002-12-12

2003-12-16

Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)

Fishing, trapping, and vermin destroying

C439S377000, C411S522000, C411S546000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06663394

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an attachment assembly for securing accessories in an electronic device, such as a computer, a server, or a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, and particularly to a rivet attachment assembly for securing an adapter card to a housing of an electronic device.
2. Related Art
With the development of information technology, computers and Internet services are widely used in the world. To provide all kinds of functions and services, many adapter cards, such as sound cards or Local Area Network (LAN) cards, are used in computers or servers. A computer generally comprises at least one housing and a motherboard received therein. The motherboard has at least one slot for mounting an adapter card. It is necessary to secure the adapter card to the housing after the adapter card has been inserted into the slot. A conventional attachment assembly used in a computer for securing an adapter card to the housing is shown in FIG.
6
. The computer comprises a housing
10
. A tab
12
extends inwardly from a sidewall
11
of the housing
10
. An opening
13
just big enough to accommodate a screw
15
is formed in the tab
12
. An adapter card
14
has an opening
16
. The screw
15
passes through both the opening
16
of the adapter card
14
and the opening
13
of the tab
12
to secure the adapter card
14
to the housing
10
.
However, since adapter cards are produced by different manufacturers, hole mismatches are difficult to avoid. So misalignment between the opening in the adapter card and the opening in the tab of the housing may prevent the adapter card from being secured to the housing. An adapter card without further attachment to the housing is susceptible to disengagement from the slot as a result of unexpected mechanical impacts and the like.
Accordingly, an improved attachment assembly for securing an adapter card to a housing is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved attachment assembly which can compensate for mismatches in hole positions between an adapter card and a housing to which the adapter card is to be secured.
To achieve the above object, an attachment assembly of the present invention comprises a tongue element having an opening therein, a rivet member, and a screw. The rivet member is in loose engagement with the tongue element and the screw is used to secure an adapter card to the rivet member. The rivet member can move in the opening of the tongue element, allowing alignment of a through hole of the rivet member with a mounting hole of the adapter card. Therefore, the rivet attachment assembly can readily secure the adapter card in the electronic device, even if slight misalignment errors are made in placement of the mounting hole in the adapter card.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3851222 (1974-11-01), Michalak et al.
patent: 4050771 (1977-09-01), Watson et al.
patent: 4587377 (1986-05-01), Rodseth
patent: 4693529 (1987-09-01), Stillie
patent: 4830557 (1989-05-01), Harris et al.
patent: 5157749 (1992-10-01), Briggs et al.
patent: 6169412 (2001-01-01), Byers
patent: 6176666 (2001-01-01), Osterlund

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Rivet attachment assembly for securing adapter card does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Rivet attachment assembly for securing adapter card, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Rivet attachment assembly for securing adapter card will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3165517